Kansai Trip: Day Five

After checking the weather report and found that Kyoto area was expecting some rain, we decided to head to the famous themed-park of Osaka, Universal Studios Japan instead.. Having done some "homework" earlier, my sister had singled out several of the more interesting/exciting rides that we were going to take and that really did pay off handsomely... :)

The entrance fee to Universal Studios Japan, or more commonly called USJ isn't cheap.. it is 5,800 yen per person, same as the entrance fee to Disneyland Japan.. but personally speaking, it was well-worth it.. I believed my sis felt the same way too.. :) :)

We reached USJ slightly after 9am and the crowd was already building up.. Once we bought our ticket and got in, we went straight to our first ride, Hollywood Dream - The Ride. But first we had to put our things in the lockers which luckily is refundable.. The queue was pretty long and the estimation given was around 70 minutes.. then it started drizzling which slowly became raining.. :( yet, everyone stayed in their queues... some went off to get raincoats or umbrellas, but everyone were determined to have their rides.. :) And boy, it was really worth it.. It has a single vertical 360 degree loop and 2 horizontal 360 degree loops.. My heart was still pounding 30 minutes after the ride.. :P

We took a few more rides which I would rate and rank as below...
Hollywood Dream - The Ride
Thrill Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Average queuing time: 70mins

Remarks: It is a roller coaster ride. Period. Would have love to do it again if the queue didn't keep growing..

Jurassic Park - The Ride
Thrill Rating: 3.5 out of 5

Average queuing time: 70mins

Remarks: The special effects was ok and nothing really fantastic, except for the final plunge (about 26m according to the brochure) off a waterfall that made my pants all wet..

Peppermint Patty's Stunt Slide
Thrill Rating: 4 out of 5

Average queuing time: 70mins

Remarks: On a two-person raft.. This was a fun and wet ride inside a twisty water tube slide.. Came out with my pants all wet (again)..

Watched one show, Terminator 2: 3-D, which was pretty good. The story line is simple and the effects were cool.. Don't miss this show.. :)

There are several big areas within USJ and some of them are really quite nicely done up.. and some of them which I just can't help myself but to proclaim, "So beautiful!".. We just kept taking photos of every structure, statue, building and just stuff.. Everything looked as if it came out of the movie set..

Some of the major areas are:
Hollywood


Land of Oz

Amity Village

Jurassic Park

San Francisco

Even the dinosaurs couldn't make me change my mind, as my favorite of them all is..
Snoopy Studios

Some night sceneries...

We were in USJ for almost 12 hours.. we had gotten wet from queuing for "Hollywood Dream - The Ride" in the rain, then dried walking under the hot sun, and then wet again after "Jurassic Park - The Ride", dried again and wet again after Pepper Patty's Stunt Slide.. This being summer, the parades all involved spraying or throwing water at the audiences.. Here is one of the clips...


My sis and I must be quite smelly by the end of the day, but so is everyone there.. :P We had turkey legs (cost 680yen each but not as tasty as I thought) for lunch, waffles for tea breaks and hot-dogs for dinner.. We stayed to watch the night show, Peter Pan's Neverland and only left USJ around 10pm.. If the place stayed open, I think a lot of people wouldn't want to go home either.. :P :) :P :)

Other than the time we spent queuing for rides, we went wondering around the huge themed-park.. Taking photographs and looking at all the tempting merchandises on sale.. In the end, I bought a Jurassic Park dog-tag which was on 30% sale and a Snoopy key-chain for my sis and me... Also, I spent a fortune, more than 4000yen on
souvenir medallions, like the ones shown here.. They have these souvenir medallions for all the major characters.. I just had to collect all of them... :x So I did spend a small fortune at USJ, but looking back, I still think it was well-worth it.. :) :) :)

Some advice if you plan to visit USJ:
- Prepare to spend ONE WHOLE DAY at USJ, believe me, you won't want to leave the place once you got in..
- Wear dark pants and don't wear skirts if you are planning to take the rides.
- Prepare to get wet in some of the rides, at least your lower body....
- Prepare to wait a long time for rides, as 60 to 80 minutes' wait is the norm, unless you want to pay at least 4000yen for an Express Booklet.
- Bring a change of clothes or a towel to wipe yourself and deodorants..
- Be ready to fork out high prices for meals and drinks, even a usual 150yen bottled drink will cost you 250yen inside!!!

More photos of USJ from Day Five..
p/s: Same photos are in my Facebook photo album.